James easton



Nrrsn vSTA-*rias PATENT Fries.

JAMES EASTON, JR., OF GROVE SOUTHWARK, ENGLAND,AND FBANQOIS THIRY, OF HUY, BELGIUM.

INIPROVED APPARATUS FORTHE IVIANUFACTURE OF PAPER-PULP.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 52,94A, dated February 27, 1866.

To all whom fit may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES EASTON, Jr., of the Grove Southwark, in the county ot' Surrey, England, engineer, and FRANQOIS THIRY, of Huy, in the Kingdom of Belgium, have invented Improved Apparatus for the Manufacture of Paper-Pulp 5 and we do hereby declare that the following is a description of our said invention.

This invention relates to a novel arrangement of apparatus for reducing straw to halfstuft' for the manufacture of paper. The straw, having been cnt up into short lengths, is immersed in an alkaline solution and subjected to steam-pressure in steam-boilers of peculiar construction, after which it is washed and discharged from the boilers by the aid of a copious stream ot' water supplied thereto. It is for the purpose ot' ettecting these operations in an efficient and economical manner that the novel apparatus shown in the accompanying drawings was designed.

Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section of the improved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a partial transverse section taken in the line l 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a front view, partly in section; and Fig. 5 is a back elevation.

In these views three steam-boilers ot' like construction and mounted in brick-work side by side are shown, that number being preferred, as they economize time in the workin g by being used in succession and heated. These boilers are shown at AA' A2, and they are heated by traversing res contained in iireboxes and carriages B. i The boilers are horizontal cylinders fitted at their lower halves with a false bottom a, segment-shaped in cross-section, pierced with holes to allow of the free circulation of liquor through them. The hinder ends ofthe boilers project beyond the brick-work which carries them, to permit of a discharge-openin g closed by a valve overlying an open trough, C, which is intended to receive and convey away the contents of the boilers when the operation is completed. Safetyvalves are provided in the steam-chambers a', which are situate at about the middle of the*l length of the boilers, and at either end thereV are man-holes a2, through which the boilers are charged with cut straw and liquor.

A horizontal rotating shaft, D, carrying radial arms d, is provided in each boiler, and from there arms chains d are pendent for the purpose of turning over thc stut't' or cut straw contained in the boiler, and thus presenting every portion thereof to the action of the alkaline liquor. At the same time these chains scrape or clear the perforated bottom a. Below the boilers A A A2, near the front ends thereof, a passage, E, is formed in the brick-work, running transversely thereto, and in this passage a railway is laid to receive, say, two fire-boxes B, which are mounted on wheels. This passage E communicates with the flues F that run under the boilers in thedirection oftheir length, as shown at Fig. 1. The tire-boxes B are litted at bottom with {ire-bars of the usual construction, and they are lined with tire-brick to protect the metal sides and back end from theinjurious action of the lire. The front end is furnished with a door and hearth like an ordin ary furnace. to transport the lire from one boiler to another as soon as the operation in one boiler is completed and another has been charged and made ready for getting .up steam, and thus removing the necessity for drawing the tire to cool down a boiler and relighting when the operation is to be repeated. It is to allow of this transfer of the lire that the transverse passage E is made under the boiler-lines and brought into connection therewith. The iireboxes, when brought under the boilers to be heated, t closely against the iiues F, to which they are respectively applied, and in which the boilers to be heated are mounted, so that little or no cold air is allowed to enter the iines.

By this arrangement it will be understood that the lire acts directly upon the boiler; but by reason of the clearing action of the chains and the use ot' the perforated false bottom, which sustains the material under treatment, and allows of the circulation of the liquor below it, the bottom of the boiler will be covered with liquor, and thus the material will not be liable to be burned nor the boiler injured by the direct action of the tire.

Instead of having a transverse passage for thetransi'er ofthe fire-box from boiler to boiler, vthe boX may be drawn out endwise and shifted rIhese hre-boxes are intendedV into aline with the next boilerto be fired and then pushed under that boiler.

The supply of alkaline liquor' is brought to the boilers by a horizontal main pipe, G,which leads from the vessel in which the mixture is prepared. From this main extend branch pipes g g, Fig. 2, which lead, respectively, to the several mau-holes a2 a? of the group of boilers. The supply to these branch pipes is governed by cocks, so that either set is, at pleasure, brought into communication with the main supply-pipe.

The steam-chambers a of the several boilers are connected together by a horizontal steam pipe, H, from which branch pipes It h lead down to horizontal pipes, I, below the boilers. (See Fig. 5.) These pipes I connect with pend: ent pipes l', leading from the bottoms of the several boilers, and stop-cocks are fitted to these pendent pipes below their junction with the horizontal pipes l. Above this junction a hand-pipe, I2, is connected with each pendent pipe l', and these branch pipes are connected with a horizontal discharge-pipe, 13, sunk in the ground. They are also provided with stopcocks for cutting od connection with the discharge-pipe. This arrangement is for the pur-v pose ot' discharging the steam outof one boiler, after the completion of the operation, into another boiler, and for discharging the spent alkaline liquor from the apparatus.

A slow rotary motion is given to the shafts D, carrying the radial arms d and chains d', by means of a worm-shaft, D. This shaft, it will be seen, is supported in bearings on a transverse girder, carried by cast-iron pillars a little in the rear ofthe boilers. The worms on this shaft gear into and drive worm-wheels K, mounted on the ends of the shafts D, and

thereby impart a slow rotary motion to the ra-V dial arms. Supposing, now, the apparatus to be in working order, the Yfirst boiler of the series A having been properlyl charged with cut straw and alkaline liquor and the manholes closed, and the re is lighted in the fireboX below the boiler, and a suitable internal pressure of steam is maintained until the silieious matter is dissolved out of the straw with which the boiler was charged. The fire-box under the boiler is shifted to the boiler next to be set at work-say A', or No. 2-and the alkaline liquor is blown from No. l boiler into boiler No. 2. A free supply of water is now to be admitted into boiler No. 1 through one of the man-holes, which is opened for the purpose. The discharge-valve K, Fig. 1, is then raised to open 'a passage to the trough C below. The continuous rotary motion ofthe arms will cause the contents ofthe boiler to be discharged into that transverse trough in the form of half-stuft', whence the halfstuff will be conveyed away to undergo the further treatment common to that material before being converted into paper. TheV boiler No. 1 is thus emptied into them ready to be recharged, and` when this opera-tion is completed the boiler No. 2, the .third of the series, being by this time ready to be discharged, steam is blown from that boiler into No. l boiler.l The spent liquor is then run off and the half-stud is run into the trough, as before described. The lirebox is then shifted from under boiler No.3 to boiler No. 1, and the operation is repeated.

Having now explained the nature ot' the invention, we wish it to be understood that we claim- 1. The passage E and movable fire-boxes or cars B, in combination with two or more boilers, A Al A2, constructed and operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2, The radial arms d and chains d', in combination with the boilers A A A2, and with suitable gear intended to give the shaft from which the arms d extend a revolving motion, substantially as and foi1 the purpose described.

In witness whereof we, the said JAMES EAS- TON, J r., and FRANQOIS THIRY, have hereunto set our hands and seals this 17th day of March,

JAMES EASTON, JR. F. THIRY. 

